The visitors were soon into their stride after a 45 minute delay to kick-off for a pitch inspection, scrum-half Rhodri Williams setting the tempo with two quick tap penalties.

From the second of these he found Daniel Thomas who crashed over from close range, with Sam Davies adding the conversion from wide on the left.

Davies then shanked a penalty wide after Italy were caught offside in their own 22, and the home side reduced the deficit to four points after 24 minutes with a penalty in front of the posts from Edoardo Padovani after Wales were penalised at the lineout.

But within four minutes Wales had notched their second try of the evening when Williams picked up the ball at the base of a scrum deep in the Italy 22 and surged for the line, touching down in the corner despite the efforts of Marcello Violi.

Davies was narrowly wide with the conversion as Wales edged 12-3 ahead.

On the half hour Wales skipper Ellis Jenkins surged down the left hand side, the ball was recycled and Italy again found themselves offside handing Wales another dangerous set-piece opportunity.

Italy couldn't stand up to the dominant Welsh scrum and after a period of intense pressure Wales were awarded a penalty try that Davies converted to make it 19-3 on 32 minutes.

Italy surged to the other end of the pitch however, only to be repelled by the Welsh defence at close quarters. Video replays proved inconclusive and the Welsh try line remained intact going into the interval.

Italy had the first opportunity of the second period with a 43rd minute penalty but Padovani was errant off the tee.
The hosts continued to threaten in the loose and for a second time were denied a try when the ball was held up over the line by desperate Welsh defence.

The home side forced a series of penalties and the pressure eventually told when Nicky Thomas saw yellow for not being ten metres when going into the tackle on 51 minutes. And Wales were two men down when Jenkins joined Thomas in the sin bin.

The powerful Maxime Mata-Mbanga' got the try the home crowd had been waiting for when he brushed off the tackle of Sam Davies to crash over, and Michele Campagnaro added the extras to bring Italy within nine points.

But Davies made the result safe for Wales with two successful second half kicks in the final quarter to round off another competent performance by the Championship leaders.